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I voted around 12:30 in western Fairfax county. There was no line, and the clerk sais, “Slow, but steady.”

I’m concerned about the large increase in absentee ballots here in NoVa, with some areas, such as illegal alien central Manassas, doubling the previous ballot numbers.

From InsideNOVA (11/6/2017):

“Manassas City, in particular, registered a 243 percent increase in early ballots cast through Nov. 6 compared to the last gubernatorial election in 2013.”

“Manassas Park wasn’t far behind, recording a 236 percent bump over 2013’s numbers, the second largest increase statewide.”

“Prince William finished fourth in state with a 211 percent increase of its own, slightly behind Accomack County, the home of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. In all, Prince William voters cast 13,191 absentee ballots, after sending in 6,252 in 2013. In sheer raw numbers, that’s the second highest absentee total in the state. Only Fairfax County recorded more absentee votes, with 41,751 ballots counted, up from 25,659 four years ago.”

http://www.insidenova.com/news/election/surge-in-absentee-ballots-for-virginia-s-elections/article_85868224-c319-11e7-af79-237961ffaf3f.html

I'm concerned about absentee ballots as well. I've seen turnout numbers on a few blue precincts where overall turnout was up from 2013, but in-person turnout was DOWN. So the increase was due to absentee / early voting, which as I understand usually favors democrat candidates.

That being said, my own precinct is one of the many in NoVA in which the dem state delegate is running unopposed and in which republicans did not even bother to show up to hand out sample ballots (dems did). Turnout seemed pretty low to me.

Mrs. daltec and I went to vote at lunch time. There were many open parking spots, we walked right in and directly up to the check-in, and I only saw about 4 or 5 other people voting, even though there must have been 30 booths. Walked right up to the scanners and then right out.

As the saying goes, republicans win on election day. So my hope is that reports of increased turnout in red precincts are 1) true and 2) enough to cover absentee / early voting. We shall see.

I have grown to absolutely loathe "early voting." If one has a legitimate reason to miss election day, then yes, one should be able to request an absentee ballot. Otherwise, get off your butt and go to the polls on ELECTION DAY. Make it a federal holiday if need be. But it's a chilly, rainy, nasty day here in Fairfax County, and if THAT is all it takes to keep you from voting, then you should not get any other chance.